Lincoln County knocked out by Kernersville

WILSON – Lincoln County’s inability to follow one of the oldest axioms in baseball on Sunday led to the Cardinals’ exit from their first-ever North Carolina American Legion state tournament.

Bases on balls, hit batters and fielding errors were far too plentiful by Lincoln County pitchers and fielders – and the result was two disappointing blowout losses in games that were virtually over before they had barely started.

On Sunday morning, in a winner’s bracket final that was postponed by rain Saturday night, Wilmington scored seven runs in the first two innings and beat the Cardinals 13-1 in seven innings.

Then, on Sunday afternoon, Kernersville scored six in the first inning and cruised to a 12-0, seven-inning victory in an elimination game.

The two losses ended Post 455’s season at 21-16. Lincoln County hadn’t won a game beyond the North Carolina Area IV quarterfinals before beating six-time defending area champion Cherryville last week three games to two in an Area IV semifinal series.

“It’s been a good year, but the last two games were very similar,” Lincoln County coach Bruce Bolick said. “When you walk a lot of people, it deflates your enthusiasm some. Of course, we didn’t hit much either.”

In the opener, Lincoln County yielded six walks, one hit batter and made four fielding errors while managing just three hits. In the second game, Lincoln County yielded nine walks, two hit batters and made two errors while managing four hits.

In a Sunday morning game that started at 10:30 a.m., defending state champion Wilmington (27-1) extended its winning streak to 26 by taking advantage of wildness by Lincoln County starter and loser Hayden Deal. Of the six runs Deal allowed, four reached on walks and one on the hit batter.

In all, Wilmington touched up Cardinals pitching for three runs in the first, four in the second, five in the fourth and one in the sixth. All four Post 455 pitchers yielded at least three hits and at least one run.

Making matters worse, Wilmington right-hander Joe O’Donnell had a perfect game and no-hitter for 4 2-3 innings as Lincoln County was shut out until Randal Ortiz’s two-out RBI single in the sixth inning.

O’Donnell, an incoming N.C. State freshman, picked up the win after retiring 15 of the 16 batters he faced in five innings. He struck out six and yielded only Bradley Hallman’s two-out bunt single in the fifth.

Three players had three hits for Post 10, including N.C. State commitment Shane Shepard and Florence-Darlington Tech commitment Jack Faircloth, who each drove in three runs. Gardner-Webb recruit Collin Thacker added two hits, as did UNC-Wilmington rising sophomore Christian Wolfe.

In the afternoon game, Kernersville (31-9) drew four walks from Lincoln County starter and loser David Scoggins out of the first eight batters it sent to the plate and scored six times in the first inning.

Page 2 of 2 - Lincoln County didn’t get a hit in the second until Jacob Hoover’s two-out single in the fourth and got only one runner as far as third base.

“We had been hoping to get here for so long,” Bolick said. “Then we got here and had a great first game. But in the last two games we just didn’t play very well.”